System for testing adequacy of human hearing

ABSTRACT

Multiple single-frequency tones are presented simultaneously to a subject by each of two transducers for the purpose of testing hearing. One transducer is employed to present a plurality of f 1  primaries and the other transducer a plurality of f 2  primaries so as to make the ratio of f 2  to f 1  sufficient to produce evoked distortion products by the pair. Proper selection of the frequencies prevents numerous intermodulation products.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 07/865,127 filed on Apr. 8,1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,571.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system and method for measuring hearing, andmore particularly to a system and method for measuring hearing that maybe successfully applied to individuals unable to respond to instructionsor request of a person administering the test. The system and method oftesting herein described may therefore be applied to the measurement ofhearing function in babies, for example, permitting assessment of theirhearing at an earlier age than possible when methods or systems are usedwhich depend on communication between tester and subject.

It has been known for hundreds of years that the simultaneousintroduction to the ear of two single-frequency sinusoidal tones, knownas primary tones, or simply as primaries, which are close both infrequency and in sound pressure level, results in the production ofnumerous audible intermodulation distortion products. The audibledistortion products are caused by nonlinear processes within the earwhich are, at the present time, of unknown origin. Typically, thefrequencies of the primaries used are in the approximate ratio 1:1.2. Itis usual to designate the lower in frequency of the two primaries asf_(l) and the higher as f₂. Of the intermodulation distortion generatedby the ear, one in particular, with frequency 2f₁ -f₂, is normallyperceptible to the subject to whom the tones are presented.

In 1979, Dr. David Kemp established that distortion tones produced bythe cochlea (in the inner ear) could be detected and measured in theears of normal-hearing persons by placing a sensitive microphone in theear canal during presentation of the primaries. Subsequently, Kemp andhis colleagues as well as numerous other researchers in variouscountries have obtained data demonstrating that the absence ofmeasurable distortion tones is associated with hearing impairment inthat region of the audible spectrum occupied by the two primary tonesand the distortion tone. Such a test is often referred to in theliterature as one employing the evoked distortion product (EDP) method.

Prior to his discovery of the physical and measurable character ofauditory distortion, Kemp, in 1978, established the detectability of anonlinear version of an impulsive signal returned, as he characterizedit, in the form of a "reflection" from the inner ear, which appearedfollowing a brief time interval after the application to the ear of anacoustic impulse. By applying a series of acoustic impulses to the earand employing a method of averaging and other signal processing by whichthe linear components of the echo were cancelled, a practical techniquefor the assessment of the hearing function of passive subjects wasdeveloped. Kemp subsequently devised a system for measurement of thespectral and time-domain properties of the nonlinear echo, then madeavailable to researchers a device to carry out such tests, made and soldby Otodynamics, Ltd. While the impulse/echo technique is not the onlymethod used in research, it has gained wide use, especially inlaboratory measurement of the hearing of infants and young children.

The present invention, while not using the impulse/echo method disclosedby Kemp in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,526 and 4,884,447 may be regarded as animprovement over that method in several respects. The present invention,because it provides results more rapidly than the impulse/echo method,is more suitable for application to the screening of infants and youngchildren for hearing impairment than methods based on the prior art, andis a useful technique in the research laboratory to be employedsupplementary to such impulse/echo methods.

Referring to FIG. 1, in conducting the EDP test in accordance with theprior art, two primaries are presented to the ear, typically by twosmall transducers 12, analogous to miniature loudspeakers, eachtransducer presenting one of the two tones. An EDP is measured byplacement of a sensitive microphone 14 in the ear canal 16 of thesubject, and the output of the microphone is applied to the input of aspectrum or wave analyzer. Alternatively, the output of the microphone,after appropriate amplification, may be applied to the input terminalsof an analog-to-digital converter for conversion to a binary-encodedrepresentation of the output waveform of the microphone, and suchrepresentation analyzed by a digital computer program for determinationof the spectrum of the microphone output signal.

The use of two transducers for presentation of the primaries isnecessitated by the tendency of a single transducer, when multiple tonesare applied to its input terminals in electrical form, to generateintermodulation distortion products as components of its acoustic outputdue to the nonlinear behavior of the transducer. Among these distortioncomponents there are likely to be intermodulation distortion componentsat the same frequencies as those produced by the ear. The transducer'sintermodulation distortion would interfere with the measurement ofdistortion produced by the ear.

A current limitation of the EDP method stems from the variability ofemission measurements in normal-hearing ears. When one pair of primariesis presented to a subject, an EDP may not be detected or may be very lowin level, leading to the conclusion by the tester that some impairmentof the auditory system exists. In fact, the level of the EDP typicallyvaries with frequency for any subject in a specific manner notpredictable by any method now known. Consequently, measurement of oneEDP alone may mislead the tester. Until now, the only ways of overcomingthis problem were either to employ the impulse/echo method, which isrelatively time-consuming and inefficient when compared to the EDPmethod, or to carry out the EDP method at a large number of frequenciesin a sequential manner.

In prior art apparatus for measurement of the EDPs produced by pairs ofprimaries at frequencies spread over the audible frequency range,results are obtained by presenting one pair of primaries at a time andmeasuring a single EDP produced by that pair. Insofar as infants andsmall children tend to move and produce sounds that interfere withtesting and produce results that are not usable, testing by use of theprior art must be extended for a period of time sufficient to obtainsatisfactory data.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to providea system and method for testing hearing that acquires information abouthearing functionality simultaneously at multiple frequencies in contrastto the prior art EDP method which detects and measures a single EDP.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod of testing hearing that eliminates the likelihood that whenmultiple pairs of primaries are employed in an EDP test, interferingintermodulation products will be caused by nonlinear interaction of theprimaries radiated by each transducer, causing intermodulation productsthat would conceal or otherwise interfere with measurement of the EDP.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system and method fortesting hearing that is more rapid than the prior art tests, so thatmuch less time is taken to complete testing, thereby reducing the costof each test without compromising the reliability of the data obtained.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a system and methodfor testing hearing that increases the reliability of tests made by theEDP method.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod of testing hearing that improves the efficiency of EDP testing byautomatically limiting the duration of the EDP test to a time that isreasonable and sufficient for the determination of the functionality ofthe hearing of the subject.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of testinghearing that facilitates the design of screening apparatus for testingthe hearing of children, which apparatus may be conveniently operated byan individual with minimal training.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, multiple single-frequency tones are presentedby each of two transducers, unlike the practice in the prior art, inwhich each transducer presents only one single-frequency tone. Onetransducer is employed to present a plurality of f_(l) primaries, eachin a different location of the range of audible frequencies, and theother transducer a plurality of corresponding f₂ primaries, each havinga frequency with respect to its corresponding f_(l) so as to make theratio of frequencies suitable for the production of EDPs by that pair.By selection of an appropriate frequency for each primary in each set, aplurality of pairs may be presented to the ear simultaneously, withoutencountering the problems caused by the presence of numerousintermodulation products due to the interaction of the multipleprimaries issued by the same transducer. This allows a single test to beperformed that will simultaneously provide information about hearingfunction over a range of audible frequencies, rather than only thefrequency range covered by one pair of primaries and the resultingsingle CDT.

Frequencies radiated by each transducer must be selected so that theyare in a ratio that avoids the production of such intermodulationproducts at the same frequencies as the EDPs sought by the procedure.

In addition, a test may be conducted in which the detection andmeasurement of a plurality of EDPs may be simultaneously undertaken,essentially eliminating the likelihood that an absent or weak EDP at asingle frequency will mislead the tester.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will bemore fully understood from the following detailed description whichshould be read in light of the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus employed in the prior artto conduct tests based on the EDP method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic graph of the frequencies and magnitudes of theprimaries and the resulting distortion component at 2f₁ -f₂ determinedin a prior art EDP test.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the steps for implementing the method of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic graph of one of numerous configurations ofprimaries which may be applied to transducers of the present inventionto generate in the ear the various EDPs shown, rendered in a mannerconsistent with the presentation in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are graphs of amplitude vs. frequency for signalsradiated when each transducer is driven separately, with bold linesindicating the desired primary frequencies and thin lines indicatingdistortion generated by the transducer.

FIG. 5(c) is a graph of amplitude vs. frequency for signals measuredwhen the two transducers are driven simultaneously, with the frequencycomponents including those shown in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b), along withEDPs, indicated by dashed thin lines.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the functional components of oneembodiment of the system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 3, the method for measuring hearing of the presentinvention will now be described. In step 20 a sample rate, f_(s), and apower of 2, the latter to serve as the length L of an FFT, are chosen.In step 22, three (3) L-point buffers are established and zeros areplaced in each location of each buffer. For purposes of this discussion,the buffers will be named Temp₋₋ 0 , Temp₋₋ 1 and Perm. In step 24,frequencies of the primary pairs, where k is equal to the number ofpairs, are selected from those discrete frequencies that result fromchoices of f_(s) and L, namely, integer multiples of f_(s) /L. Forexample, if the chosen sample rate is 20,000 Hz and the value of L isselected as 1024, then the discrete analysis frequencies will be atinteger multiples of 19.53 Hz.

In step 26, a table is then made and stored in a binary memory devicecontaining the instantaneous values of L samples of the k selected f₁tones, and in step 28 a second table of the instantaneous values of thek selected f₂ tones is created and stored. These tables are used toprovide input signals to the two transducers 64, 66 which deliver theprimary tones to the ear of the subject. Each of these two tablescontains 1024 entries in this example and each entry in one table is thesum of the instantaneous values of the k f₁ (lower-frequency) tones ofeach pair, and the other table contains the sums of the instantaneousvalues of the k f₂ (higher-frequency) tones of each pair. Thecontribution of each frequency component to the sum is computed asfollows:

    Value= sine (sample number×bin number×2×PI/1024)s[n]=A sin (2nj/L)

where

s[n] is the amount to be added into the table for that sample number

n is the location in the table, from 1 to 1024

j is the jth harmonic of f_(s) /L.

A is the desired amplitude.

The values in these tables are sequentially read and sent todigital-to-analog converters 58, 60 in step 32. The output of eachconverter is then the content of its respective table represented as ananalog waveform, which is sent to the input terminals of anelectrical-to-acoustic transducer 64, 66 in or near the entrance of theear canal of the test subject. In accordance with the present invention,each of the two tables forms the input waveform to one of twoindependent transducers, thereby isolating and separating frequencycomponents in the acoustic signal which could produce intermodulationdistortion products in the transducers at the frequencies of distortionproducts of interest produced by the ear.

In step 36 a frame counter is used to keep track of the current framenumber, for two purposes. First, it is used to alternate the buffersTemp₋₋ 0 and Temp₋₋ 1 between processing and sampling modes. Second, thecounter is used to sense the end of a measurement when a prescribednumber of frames have been processed. In step 38, the system samples Lpoints of the signal from the microphone 56 via analog-to-digitalconverter 62. These points are stored in either buffer Temp₋₋ 0 68 orTemp₋₋ 1 70. The determination of which buffer is used depends uponwhether the frame counter is an odd number or an even number. If theframe counter is odd, the values are stored in Temp₋₋ 0 buffer 68 and ifthe frame counter is even, the sample points are stored in Temp₋₋ 1buffer 70. This allows the buffers to be used alternately and to befilled while the values in the other buffer are being processed.

In step 40 the system performs a fast Fourier transform on the signalstored in buffer Temp₋₋ J which is the buffer in which the sample Lpoints are not being stored at the same time. In step 42 this L pointframe is analyzed for transient noise. This analysis is done by firstcomputing the fast Fourier transform of the received frame and measuringthe magnitudes of M frequency components surrounding the sought-afterEDPs. A measure of transient noise can be, for example, the largest ofthese neighboring component magnitudes, or their RMS average. In step 44if the detected transient noise exceeds a threshold, then the data inTemp₋₋ J buffer is discarded and the system waits for the sampling whichresults in points of the microphone signal being placed into Temp₋₋ Ibuffer in step 38 to be finished. If the transient noise does not exceedthe threshold, the system in step 46 adds the complex FFT computed fromthe frame in the Temp₋₋ J buffer to existing values in the Perm bufferand then increments the frame counter. In step 47 the system checks ifthe desired number of valid frames has been reached, and if it has not,in step 48 it waits for the end of the filling of the Temp₋₋ I bufferwith samples and then continues with execution in step 36. If theprescribed number of frames has been reached, the results are displayedin step 49 and the processing ends in step 50.

The acquisition of the acoustic signal in the case of the describedexample, based on FFTs which operate on 1024 samples, would be set up soas to alternately fill two buffers 68 and 70, each 1024 samples inlength. The number of buffers, the sample rate, and the length of theFFT performed, while related, may be chosen to have values muchdifferent from those in the example given here, without departing fromthe nature of the present invention. When a Motorola DSP56001 digitalsignal processor chip is used to execute the FFT in step 40, the timetaken to obtain the results of the FFT is less than the time needed tofill a buffer, and consequently, no data is acquired which is notanalyzed. Obviously, any other digital signal processor that can executea FFT at similar speed could be used. While an FFT is performed on thecontents of one buffer, the other buffer is being filled from the outputof the analog-to-digital converter.

An advantage of employing primary tones in the ratio 1:2:4 . . . 2^(n)is that the intermodulation products formed in a single transducerdelivering these tones to the ear fall at nf₁ +mf₂,n,m=0,±1,±2, . . . .These distortion products are distinct from those of interest. Whilethis ratio is therefore preferred there may be other combinations ofmultiple lower or upper primary tones that provide satisfactory results.

In the present invention, information may be obtained rapidly for abroad range of frequencies. Specifically, it has been found that assmall a time period as a few seconds will suffice. A child tested inaccordance with the present invention need only remain still for aslittle as a few seconds to permit completion of the entire test, whereit is not uncommon for testing by measurement of numerous EDPs seriallyand individually to take five to ten minutes, or testing by theimpulse/echo method to occupy a time period of several minutes. Thepresent invention therefore has the potential capability of reducing thecost of hearing screening in clinics and hospitals, which wouldcontribute to lowering health care costs.

The same procedures described above for the purpose of limiting theduration of the test to a necessary and sufficient time for reliablejudgment of auditory function may be alternatively employed as a meansof continuously and simultaneously monitoring the level of all of theEDPs evoked by a plurality of sets of primaries. Such monitoring may beof special value during some forms of surgery, for example, during suchprocedures as sectioning of the vestibular nerve, at which time it isdesirable to observe continuously any alteration in auditory functionthat may be a result of surgical manipulations.

The above-described procedures, which could be terminated after aprescribed number of frames, could alternatively be terminated afterspecified criteria are reached. This adaptive stopping procedure wouldprevent continued testing after adequate information has becomeavailable regarding the functionality of the subject's hearing.

While the foregoing invention has been described with reference to itspreferred embodiments, various alterations and modifications will occurto those skilled in the art. All such variations and modifications areintended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. Apparatus for testing hearing over a range ofaudible frequencies comprising:means for simultaneously presenting aplurality of primary tones to an ear of a subject being tested through afirst transducer, said primary tones being single-frequency sinusoidaltones and said plurality of primary tones including tones with differentfrequencies; means for simultaneously presenting a plurality of primarytones in said ear through a second transducer, said plurality of primarytones including tones with different frequencies; means for measuringauditory distortion tones generated by pairs of said primary tones, eachof said pairs of primary tones including one primary tone presented bysaid first transducer and one primary tone presented by said secondtransducer, said frequencies of said primary tones being selected toprevent the production of unwanted intermodulation distortion products.2. The apparatus for testing hearing over a range of audible frequenciesof claim 1 wherein said plurality of primary tones presented by saidfirst transducer are f₁ frequency primary tones, each of said f₁ primarytones being in a different location of the range of audible frequencies.3. The apparatus for testing hearing over a range of audible frequenciesof claim 2 wherein said plurality of primary tones presented by saidsecond transducer are f₂ frequency primary tones, each of said f₂primary tones corresponding to an f₁ primary tone so as to make a ratioof such f_(l) and f₂ primary tones suitable for the production ofauditory distortion products.
 4. The apparatus for testing hearing overa range of audible frequencies of claim 3 wherein the ratio of frequencyf₂ to the frequency of f₁ is approximately 1.2.
 5. The apparatus fortesting hearing over a range of audible frequencies of claim 1 furthercomprising:a) means for selecting a sample rate f_(s) and a frame lengthL for use in the execution of a fast Fourier transform; b) means forsampling L points of a signal received by a microphone and storing saidsampled L points in one of two buffers, said one buffer beingalternatively selected so that the same buffer is not used forconsecutive sampling steps; c) means for performing a fast Fouriertransform (FFT) on the sampled L points stored in the other of said twobuffers while sampled points are being stored concurrently in said oneof two buffers; d) means for repeating steps (b) and (c) until thedesired number of samples is obtained.
 6. The apparatus for testinghearing over a range of audible frequencies of claim 5 furthercomprising:means for analyzing the FFT spectrum for transient noise;means for discarding said sampled L points for which the transient noiseof said FFT spectrum exceeds a preselected threshold.
 7. The apparatusfor testing hearing over a range of audible frequencies of claim 1wherein the ratio of each frequency to any other frequency presented byone of said first and second transducers is 1 to 2^(n).